Saturday, 28 February 2015

Vampifan's Views 61 - Monthly Musings 39

Miss Vampirella February 2015 - Arban Ornelas

This month's Vampirella model is the lovely Arban Ornelas. I mentioned last month how some of the Vampirella models got her iconic costume spot on and some didn't. Arban falls in the category of not getting it right. But it is not her fault. She was hired by Harris Comics to help promote the comic. This photo was taken at a comics convention. Harris Comics published the Vampirella comic from 1991 until 2007. They designed and provided Arban's costume and they really should have done a better job of it. The waist band is far too high up on her hips. Heck, it is so high it covers her belly button. As a consequence the gold bat logo is far too high as well. It should cover her crotch. The top half of the costume looks good but I really don't like the bottom half. Still, costume criticisms aside, I do think Arban is very beautiful and very voluptuous. I also think she was very brave to wear such a revealing costume!

Back cover of the A Touch Of Evil game

In hobby news I have been painting a bunch of figures unlike any other I have painted before. No, they are not more Chibi figures. They are 28mm scale early 19th century American adventurers. They are the heroes of a board-game called A Touch of Evil by Flying Frog Productions. You can see some of the unpainted figures in the picture to the right. I recently purchased this game after it was highly recommended to me. A lot of people have described the game as being Arkham Horror-lite. I don't see this as a bad thing. Arkham Horror is a very complex game so if I play ATOE first it will be a good introduction to preparing me for AH. Reviews of the painted figures, the game and its expansion sets will follow soon. It does feature the undead and the figures are realistically sculpted. No Chibi nonsense in these games!

Speaking of Chibi nonsense, I have been playing lots of games of Super Dungeon Explore recently. Indeed I have played more games this past month than in the whole of 2014. My New Year's resolution to play more games in 2015 is going very strong. I have been trying out various combinations of Heroes to battle the Consul. Some Heroes work together and individually better than others. Just sticking with the nine Heroes of the basic game my favourite is definitely the Hexcast Sorceress. Before I actually played the game I thought it'd be the Royal Paladin based on his stat scores and abilities. Don't get me wrong, he is a must have for any party. It is just that I have totally fallen for Miss Hexcast. I really must give her a proper name.

The stat card for the Hexcast Sorceress

When I first reviewed her I said that the Ember Mage was a more powerful mage than her. This is true. But the Hexcast Sorceress has two unique and awesome spells in her arsenal - Broken Bones and Hobbled Hands. These two spells have been the bane of Starfire, Rex and Reg in every game that I have used the Hexcast Sorceress. Here is how best to use her in a typical game. Try to keep her away from the thick of the action at all times. She is at her most effective from a distance. If ever you find a relic that adds to a character's Will score give it to her. Will is what she uses to cast Magic so try to boost that as much as possible. Twice I have been lucky enough to find a relic that added a +1 green die to her Will. When Rex or Reg or Starfire appears have her cast Broken Bones on them. Keep casting this spell until it succeeds. Why cast this spell first? Well, Fragile forces the target to discard the highest roll it makes for its Armour roll. Doing this makes the target much easier to hit for every Hero. Once you have done this then cast Hobbled Hands on the same target. With the target's defence drastically lowered this should be a lot easier to cast. Weak works in a similar fashion to Fragile but instead it forces the target to discard their highest roll for their Attack roll. Remember the aim of the game for the heroes is not to slay all the monsters but just to slay the Dungeon Boss, which in this case is Starfire the Dragon. The Hexcast Sorceress makes that job so much easier. Oh, and her ordinary Magic is usually good enough to smite most other dungeon denizens and minions, especially so if you boost her Will score. Plus, unlike normal ranged attacks, Magic can be cast on an opponent if they are in an adjacent square. Pretty damned nifty! I think she is an absolute babe. I will leave you with this line drawing of her that I found on the internet showing what she looks like if realistically rendered. I am definitely in love with her!

Oh I don't know it depends on how vivid your imagination is I guess! I think my personal favourite "Vampy" model is Caroline Munro (but I have a soft spot for her anyway) any chance she might make your top twelve?

Just thought I actually painted up a GZG "Vampy" last week, though her boots are the wrong colour and I didn't do the bat on her pant's, but it's here if you fancy a look....

I certainly do know who Caroline Munro is and she is gorgeous. I would definitely have included her if there were any photos of her wearing Vampi's costume. Sadly, there aren't. Did you know, in the early 1970s, Hammer Films were planning to make the Vampirella film. Caroline Munro was flown to Italy to do a photo shoot for the role of Vampirella, but turned it down (Barbara Leigh was eventually chosen for the role).

Thanks for the link to your painting of the GZG Vampirella figure. You have painted her very well and I can forgive you for getting her boots wrong. Suffice to say, I do have this figure in my own collection.

Sorry, Roger, but that is definitely NOT Caroline as Vampirella. Someone has photo-shopped Caroline's head onto the body of Kitana Baker. I know because I am planning on using that same photo of Kitana as Miss June. I have seen other fake photos of Caroline as Vampirella. If you do see a photo of her as Vampi it WILL be a fake.

Arban is very beautiful and sexy in that costume none the less!! Caroline Munro is certainly a sexy babe anyway.

Interesting to read your thoughts on the characters. The game sounds like it has quite a good tactical edge to it and I'm sure you'll find a few more combos with it. Its funny how the characters that at first glance seem undesirable have quite the useful talents tucked away.

I hear ATOE is a great game but haven't played it yet. I have played AH and it is a fun game but it has a lot of setup required to play to its not a pick-up and play game like Zombicie. Yes I've finally played that game the first scenario anyway.

I never read the Harris Comics Vampirella's because of the above picture I figured if they couldn't get the costume right in their advertising then heir comics wouldn't get the character right either. Nothing wrong with the model though.

My copy of the AH board-game is the latest one available but I have no idea how or if it differs to the original. As for the computer game, I didn't even know it existed. My knowledge of computer games is lacking because I never play them.

My word Bryan that costume looks like it could do the girl a mischief.Flying Frog seem to make some pretty cool games, have you played Last Night on Earth? If so I would love to hear your opinion of it.Great to hear your getting lots of games in, a very wise resolution.The line drawing of the sorceress is very good, what's wrong with that style, why did they have to go the chibi route?

Thanks for the comments, Bob.I have yet to play Last Night On Earth but it is on my to do list for 2015. When I do, I will post a lot about it on my blog. Something to look forward to.I agree that the line drawing of the sorceress is excellent. The reason for the Chibi look is because this is the style of all the games produced by Soda Pop Miniatures.

What a post Bryan, Vampirella, board-games and the obligatory SDE, oh and some praise for my blog as well ;-) You're clearly setting yourself up as the definitive guide to SDE with these insightful postings of yours. Absolutely love 'em. Bah humbug to the Chibi-haters out there :-) I'd be very interested in your thoughts on "A Touch of Evil" as I've been thinking about this type of game for a while. Huge fan of "Arkham Horror" but the set-up time is enormously off-putting imho, so a lite-version sounds very interesting indeed.

Many thanks, Simon. Yes, it is my goal to produce a definitive guide to SDE. I just played my first SDE game using the Von Drakk Manor expansion set today and that was a real eye-opener! My God, the undead are tough! Von Drakk slaughtered the Heroes. Still, it was immensely entertaining and fun. March is going to be devoted to Von Drakk Manor but afterwards I may switch to "A Touch Of Evil." I can understand why some people are put off by "Arkham Horror" because it takes a long time to set up and games can last 4 hours or more. Not good if you need to clear the table for meal times. AH and ATOE certainly have a lot in common and seeing as I own both games I can immediately see the similarities and differences.

Bryan, I think the very best part about your SDE postings, and frankly your comment postings in general, is they really show how much fun you're having with it or how excited you are by playing the game. Great stuff and most sincerely I think March will be all the richer for a series of Von Drak Manor SDE postings. Pity you can't do them daily :-)

Simon, you are spot on about me having fun... and you're not the only one to notice this! I have a lot of stuff to show for the Von Drakk Manor set so here's the deal. Whilst posting daily is not feasible, how about I post every two to three days? That way I can cover more ground in a shorter period. The time consuming part - taking photos - has already been done.